Hey there! I've set this blog up to chart my adventures in gaming and miniature painting. I first started playing many years ago around 1993 when a good friend of mine at school was reading White Dwarf in the library. From there my curiosity took over and i was soon planning the purchase of my first army - Undead. They were pretty terrible back in the day but good fun to play, especially when you could field Nagash himself! I ventured into a Dark Elf army soon after i realised that Undead did'nt cut it. I also discovered Warhammer 40,000, then Necromunda playing Blood Angels and Van Saar. Come 1998 i was due to head off to university and i shelved my models to concentrate on Chemistry. Fast forward around ten years and i had finished university obtaining a degree and PhD in the process. Coming home to work I got back into the hobby by chance as an old school friend was painting and playing again. He eventually drifted from the hobby but left me with an insatiable urge to play and to paint!

I have always wanted to be able to paint like the 'Eavy Metal guys i used to idolise. I got to reasonable standard back in the 90's considering I didnt have access to forums, online tutorials or even other painters to aid me. When i got back into the hobby, i had all the information i needed to begin my path to painting glory!

These days i'm not bad though I still lack the finesse and artistic talent to bring home awards but i'll always be practicing. A stint playing MMO's has dulled my skills a little but i'm working on bringing this back. One day i hope to win a few trophys at the Golden Demon awards at Gamesday.

Here's a few examples of my first attempts at "high" quality painting and blending

This guy was my first attempt at blending. I was following a White Dwarf tutorial and an online tutorial for watering down paints.

This guy was a converted black reach terminator that i used to experiment with painting reds, blending and power weapon crackle effects. This was based off of the White Dwarf tutorial for painting Space Hulk terminators by Anja Wettergrom. Not great, but a start!

My good friend Scott got me into a painter called Jérémie Bonamant Teboul and lent me his tutorial DVD. I made leaps in my painting as i absorbed the techniques shown in the DVD and painted my first display piece - an Aurlok warrior from Figone.

Here i had learned how to get smooth transitions in shades and colours, though my execution was at times a little off and my basing skills a little lack luster. I felt this was a good start and worthy of my display cabinet.

While learning display painting, i was working on a Blood Angels army. I soon went away from painting all of the models to display standards and began to adapt my new skills to painting many minis relatively quickly while still maintaining detail and a good standard of brush work. This further enhanced my abilities as i learned brush control - IMO the most important thing for a painter to have.

These guys were just a few of my minis i painted. Neat line highlights, layering and even a little bit of Object Source Lighting (OSL) were used. I then attempted my next project, a terminator chaplain painted to display standard with NMM!

Alas i never finished this guy and he sits in a jar in a box destined to never be finished. It taught me a lot (mostly that NMM was HARD!!!!!) but i lost interest in finishing him.

I began to drift away from 40K when 6th edition came out. I had painted so much power armour i was sick of it! My flat mate Olly and I then decided that we should try Warhammer Fantasy so we threw ourselves full force into painting armies. I chose Skaven from the Island of Blood set and my flat mate chose Warriors of Chaos. Here both our painting skills flourished (mostly mine since he is already and artist and bloody good painter!). I eventually went from Skaven to Orgres, then to Empire and High Elves and then to Warriors of Chaos while Olly decided on all the Armies in Warhammer! About this time we also started to film our battles and put them on Youtube. You can find Olly's channel on Youtube and its called Any Given Sunday. It features me mostly getting soundly thrashed but i get my own back occasionally!

With Fantasy being my favourite genre I painted a display piece - a present from my sister's boyfriend, a Nurgle Chaos Lord. This was the first on the new plastic characters and in my opinion some of Games Workshop's finest innovations. He was unconverted and painted using the 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book for armour painting tutorials and Darren Latham's excellent rendition of the same model as inspiration.

I got heavily into playing the Star Wars MMO and my painting dried up but i still managed to complete a model swap for a guy on the 40K forums. Not my best work as my mind was elsewhere but i was pleased with my work. I also learned about wet blending and using pigments.

I have many painting projects on the go and intend to post up WIP's and finished articles. I'm also happy to share any hints and tips if anyone wants them. Just met me know. I tend to drift in and out of things so it will likely be an eclectic mix of mini's as and when i see fit.